My Wage

Here's a wonderful and inspirational poem included in the book, The One Thing. The poem's theme is that life is a question and the quality of how we live it out depends on our answer.

MY WAGE

By J. B. Rittenhouse

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening 
When I counted my scanty store.

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial's hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have willingly paid.